Comments (11)

I know this may not be helpful at all, but...
1- sore heavy breasts: time. Give it time for your boobs to figure out how much milk your baby needs. It's all about supply and demand. Get a comfy, soft, non-underwire bra.
2- latch: keep trying to pull your baby's lips out and eventually it will become natural for them.
3- don't give up, it gets sooo much easier!

Agree with PP - however for the latch I will add my DS seems to slip off my nipple a lot. It gets too wet for him so I always have a burp cloth handy to wipe his mouth and my nipple, then he hops right on until the next time it gets too slippery :)

For sore breasts.....try pumping. my LO was sleeping but I felt like my breasts were SO heavy, so I pumped....got 4oz and felt a bunch better

Also for a baby who has toruble latching or staying latched, try different poses....my LO had trouble in the hospital so the nurse suggested football hold....which made all the difference. Try pumping to get your milk down, then having baby latch on...your milk will be right there and wil make it easier for your LO to get milk and not be so frustrated.

Good luck. I was at the ped yesterday and he has been at a dinner the night before about the benefits of breastfeeding....higher IQ, WAY better immune system (with BF babies they get the antibodies 3 times faster from their immunization than non BF babies, but he did mention that Similac formula had better immune respose than other formulas out there)

My suggestion is the one thing that I hated to hear as a FTM, but it's true: relax, relax, relax. If you can get yourself into a good/calm state before you try latching baby on, you have a much greater chance of success.

I hated hearing that because the people reminding me to relax were usually the people that were mosst stressing me out at the moment. Buf it you are stressed or tense, baby can tell and will become tense as well... and then your whole feeding will be a struggle.

Stay calm, relax into it and once you make it past the other struggles, breastfeeding will be a joy that you look forward to instead of dread.

I experience extremely sore and cracked nipples while BFing. It turns out, while by DD latches very well, she is really badly tongue tied, so she has a very shallow suck. Anyway, I have been switching off pumping and giving her a bottle and breast feeding. This has given my nipples a chance to heal, this has made breastfeeding much easier and less painful. Good luck.

I have 1 extremely sore/cracked nipple. I am using a nipple shield on that side while it heals up. Other than that, what everyone else said! But above all, it is NOT easy for many, many moms. It takes work and determination when you are most tired. It is worth it in the end though!

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L.D. 2/18/04, L.F. 2/4/08, K.M. 5/3/11Angel 11/3/08 Angel 10/5/09

Vemma - improving your overall health-Nutrition for the next generation.